Radio Times1980
A look at whats in the festive edition of Radio Times. Look out for Mike Yarwood who looks like hes had a fall and can't get up.
**This clip contains some strobing images and 70's fashions that some viewers may find uncomfortable**
The Royal Wedding1981 Imagine this now. The fairytale wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer was THE event of the year, and the BBC was determined to provide the most extensive coverage of this historic event. Not limiting itself to just the coverage on the day, BBC1 planned a whole range of associated programming in the days leading up to 29 July. Such an extensive celebration of Royal nuptuals simply would not happen now due to a shift in public thinking, but at the time Charles and Diana were seen as the hope for the future of the Royal family. How wrong we all were.
BBC 60 Years1982
Promoting an open day at (possibly) one ot the BBC's regional centers.
(The beginning of the clip sounds like "...land place". If anyone has any information about what this could be, please contact Hayden Walker)
Radio Times1985
A quick public announcement then straight into a slightly mozzerella smelling trail for the Radio Times, featuring the cast of "Only Fools And Horses" looking ahead to Christmas telly with the help of the RT!
BBC Licence Fee1986 Based on the "What Have The Romans Ever Given Us" sketch from Monty Python's Life Of Brian, this clip stars John Cleese as a man whos just bought his tv licence and a whole host of stars extolling the virtues of the BBC.
The first time it was shown was in the middle of one of Wogan's 3 nights a week chatshows. Wogan stunned everyone by saying we're going to a break. Up on the screen came "End of Part One" and this commercial was shown. Then back to Wogan with "Part Two" on the screen. Wogan then launched the competition where you had to name all the people in the ad plus complete the tiebreaker sentance "The BBC is good value at 16p a day because....." I don't remember the prize or the winner but considering the subject of the ad, I would not have been surprised if it was a free TV licence for 12 months. The winning tiebreak was announced on the Wogan show and was "The BBC is good value at 16p a day because.....it's cheaper than a paper or a pinta." Not true in 2009 because the Daily Star is 20p!! (the licence fee now costs 39p a day)
Into 86 with the BBC1986
BBC TV looked to the future with a very arty trail featuring music by Stravinsky and graphics by Liz Kitchen. The Into 86 campaign appeared on BBC1 and BBC2.
BBC Bafta Prizewinners1986
BBC Television celebrated a massive victory at the BAFTA awards by running a special season of the many programmes which netted gongs that year. These included Grange Hill, Forty Minutes and of course, Only Fools And Horses.
BBC Live Session1987
The Elvis Season continues with a few of The King's films, GI Blues, Love Me Tender as well as a live concert from Las Vegas.
BBC Daytime1987
BBC1's first full daytime service launched on 27 October 1986, after many false starts and years in the planning. Within a year BBC Daytime, as it became known, adopted its own unique look with special graphics and its own animated sting. Both dated very quickly, however, and by 1990 daytime broadcasts used the usual corporate BBC1 branding.
A selection of BBC Daytime slides...
Fast Forward advert1990
Fast Forward was the BBC's second attempt at providing a counterpart to ITV's Look-In. Before competition rules restricted how the BBC could promote its own publications, trails like this were a common sight around children's programmes in the late 80s and early 1990s.
BBC Regional News Promo1992
"The things that matter the most are often those which happen close to home", proclaims Kirsty Wark in this montage of stories from the BBC regions. Apologies for the absence of the very beginning.
BBC Licence Fee - Picture Hook1993
With the impending renewal of the Royal Charter the BBC was out to remind us just what good value we got for our licence fee - yes, a day's BBC viewing and listening costs the same as a picture hook! Other promos in this series likened the cost to half a quality newspaper.
BBC Licence Fee1993
How much would one days BBC viewing cost you? The price of one prawn (22p in those days)
Eastenders Exports1990s
Thanks to the unique way the BBC is funded, by you the general public, we can afford to make trails like this, which are the envy of the world!
BBC Perfect Dayfrom 25.12.1997 The award-winning cover of Lou Reed's "Perfect Day", commissioned to celebrate 75 years of the BBC and featuring a plethora of big names from the music industry including Tom Jones and the man himself. The entire 4-minute video is presented here. Despite the massive popularity of this promotion it seems not everyone liked it. BBC2 tended to show Perfect Day at weekends in the gap between the end of main programmes and the start of the overnight Learning Zone - taking five minutes out of the time available for Pages from Ceefax. In those days when the Ceefax minidiscs lasted longer than the downtime slots, this was not a popular move!
BBC Promo - Small People1998
Digital TV was looming and the explosion in channels meant the BBC was facing competition on all fronts, especially for younger viewers. The Beeb hit back with this memorable promo celebrating over 70 years of BBC children's programmes and featuring 8-year old Scott Chisholm. The promo came in varying lengths and in our clip (1 min) Scott meets the Woodentops, Windy Miller and the wicked witch of Narnia.
BBC Digital - The Adventure Starts Here1998
September 1998, and time for the talking to end and the action to begin. Yes, the digital era has arrived - and with it, a greatly expanded BBC Online. Unfortunately it wasn't all great back then - as can clearly be seen in the clip, the BBC's digital channels initially sported DOGs until a mass viewer revolt led to their removal.
BBC Digital Promo1998
A short promo for the BBC's flourishing services, such as Radio 5 and the new interweb thingy....
(By the way, Nelson's last words were recorded as "God And My Country", not "Kiss Me Hardy" as many think)
BBC Digital - News 24 Promo1999
The BBC launches a new 24 hour news channel..Meet the correspondants here
BBC Online Promo1999
The BBC invent something called the internet and this is an advert for its new "web site". Find out more about it here.
(And yes, we know the BBC didn't invent the internet...)
Cricket World Cup on the BBC1999
But it was a World Cup with a difference as far as the BBC was concerned - in 1999 the rights to test cricket passed to Channel 4 and have since disappeared from free-to-view television completely. The BBC was still able to provide ball-by-ball coverage on Radio 5 Live, as this promo shows. Note the unusual use of a cue dot on this clip.
BBC Online2000
Peter Offer voices this promo for one of the many and varied services available at the time on BBC Online. Since this promo was made, BBC Online has had to become more "public service" after complaints from commercial websites.
BBC Serious About Comedy2000
A rather crap joke as told by the BBC's stars in a one big montage. Sort of like that "Perfect Day" song they did, but without the singing...
**7.5mb file - Please be patient while downloading**
BBC Subtitles promotion2001
Jane Copland - best known as one of the original voices of Channel 4 - switches channels and lends her caramel tones to raise awareness of BBC subtitles. Very much a product of its time, as the BBC wouldn't ever consciously promote Ceefax now.
Radio Five Live - Premiership Football2001
And here come...the Radio 5 Live crack team! Stuart Hall is among the familiar voices who'll be commentating on every Premiership match this season.
BBC Proms2002
2002 was perhaps a year BBC Marketing would rather forget. Fresh from the row which followed the axing of the BBC1 globe symbol - and the dance idents which replaced it, the BBC attempted to make the Proms look "hip" by using the services of Big Brother narrator, Marcus Bentley, to voice that year's Proms promo together with a storyboard that was deliberately designed to attract young people to classical music. And that wasn't all - the BBC's "me too" response to Pop Idol followed that October...
BBCi Promo2002
One of many promos for the BBC's new interactive services, from the red button to the internet. Sadly, most of the features featured in this promo were either short lived or didnt even exist. 
BBC Proms2003
Like all good politicians, the BBC's marketing men will never openly admit they got it wrong. But they don't really have to, as you can usually tell when an experimental approach is followed by a return to something more traditional. Such was the case for the 2003 Proms campaign, using a more "BBC4-friendly" voiceover and ideas. 16:9 letterbox in 4:3
Glastonbury2005
Since 2005 the BBC has promoted its Glastonbury coverage with a series of vox pops with Glastonbury residents talking about what the festivities mean to them. All that changes each year is the end board graphics.
BBC Digital Family2006
Going digital a mystery? Here's uncle Peter Snow and friends to tell you how, what and where.
This Is What We Do2006
Another self-gratifying promo highlighting the good and valid work the BBC do in providing a service(!)
BBC iPlayer2007
A short promo to help launch the BBC iPlayer, the latest service provided by Auntie, allowing you to watch again or catch up on your favourite programmes. It started out with an archive of programmes from the last 7 days but now offers programmes from the last 30.
